BizTalk Server 2010 : Navigating the Mapping Surface

Open an existing map in Visual Studio.

To pan a map from top to bottom or left to right, click the hand button on the mapping toolbar, which is shown in Figure 1. You can now drag the mapping surface in any direction needed.

Figure 1. The pan button

To zoom in and out on the map, use the zoom functionality on the mapper toolbar. Zooming out can give you perspective on where your functoids are and allow you to easily locate and modify mappings. If you zoom in and the functoids loose focus, you will notice flashing blue arrows to guide you to where the components are (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Arrow indicating where functoids are after zooming in

To find a specific value or word in a schema or a functoid, you can use the search functionality (see Figure 3). You can search on name, label, comments, inputs, and scripts in functoids. Searching on a value will highlight all of the results; you can use the up and down arrows to navigate through the results (see Figure 4).

Figure 3. Searching for a value in a functoid

Figure 4. Search resultsare highlighted

To use the grid preview functionality, right-click the mapping surface, and select Grid Preview. This will pop up a window that shows a box and all of the functoids (see Figure 5). You can drag and drop the box over the area of the map you want to scroll to, and the map will automatically move.

Figure 5. Using the grid preview functionality